Title: Days
of heaven
Year: 1978
Composer: Ennio Morricone
It’s Oscar
season again and for the next week I’m reviewing some of Ennio Morricone’s
Oscar nominated scores ending with his last year’s winning score for The hateful eight. His first nomination
was for a Terrence Malick film Days of
heaven that unfortunately lost to Giorgio Moroder’s Midnight express. The score is a true beauty, a glace to a time
when film scores still had memorable melodies and genuine emotional impact.
Malick is a
director known to be difficult to work with for the composers. He tends to move
the music to other places in the film that it was written for or replace it
completely with classical music. This wasn’t really a problem for Maestro Morricone
who wrote several versions of a number of themes that could be implemented to
the film quite freely. He only insisted one cue, The fire, to be kept in its original place and ultimately
everything else was changed except for that piece. The Film Score Monthly album
presents the score in 3 ways: the original album presentation, the cues as
heard in the film and finally extended material, most of which didn’t appear in
the film. Due to this some of the cues are heard twice or three times during
the album’s duration but the programs provide different perspectives to
experience the score.
The
original album and the film open with Camille Saint-Saëns’ Aquarium from The carnival of
the animals. This mysterious cue was clearly advised for Morricone to be
used as the basis of his main theme. However his melody, though similar, takes
another direction. The harmonies are more oddly sentimental than shrouded in
mystery and somewhat unexpected thus giving the theme a neoromantic edge. The
first version of the theme is heard in Harvest
which really brings to mind images of the vast prairies. The theme’s every
appearance really is like the great outdoors itself depicted through music. For
instance on the album it is heard next time in Ashes & dust following the devastating fire sequence thus really
giving the sense of nature waking up from the ashes. It beautifully then moves
straight to the love theme, showing the human side of moving on after a loss. Similar
method is applied to His death,
though this time reversed like returning back to nature through one’s death.
The second disc opens with the original Main
title where the theme’s version for strings really reminds me of works by
classical composers and the emphasis is on the rolling piano accompaniment.
There are some great variations of the theme e.g. in track 16 with guitars providing the base, track
27 with out of tune swirling figures combined to childlike music box melody and
finally in track 30 with a passionate solo piano performance.
The real emotional
punch is the love theme (aka The farmer
and the girl or Days of heaven)
that really is a melody to behold, easily one of the all-time greatest Morricone
compositions. It has a rural, almost folk song like quality to it because of
the use of natural minor scale and it makes a perfect circle of music that flows like
a river forever forward. The theme is hinted at first in The return which really is an intelligent cue because it only has
the accompanying harmonies in their simplest forms but they leave an emotional
impact entirely by theirselves too. On the second disc this method goes even
further by changing the harmonies to the solo piano and soft strings. Track 15 of
disc 1 is the full version of the theme for a plain piano solo which is just incredible
in its simplicity. The theme has a beautiful descending intro and outro that is
heard for instance in track 28 of disc 1 and several times on the second disc. Days of heaven is the biggest concert
arrangement of the theme for the full orchestra, several solo woodwind performances
on top of swirling strings and guitars which create a true moment of
indescribable beauty. The album version ends with nightly sounds of chirping locusts
that remind the listener of the surrounding atmosphere.
Besides the
two main themes, there are other recurring motifs as well. Threshing aka Non-stop work
aka Work theme is a dramatic tune
with chord progressions familiar to Morricone’s previous works. The steady
string accompaniment has almost classical or sacred quality to it (even more on
the second disc by the appearance of a church organ), later similarly reprised
in the introverted The honeymoon.
Luckily among the dramatic cues there is also time for some positivity in Happiness aka On the road aka Train ride which
has a moving flute melody made fluid by constantly rolling classical guitar and
piano base. The B section shows though that the drama is never far away with an
intensifying pace that resolves to the sweet reprise of the main melody.
The real
dread and horror is depicted within a couple of cues. The chase is a mad Morriconean action track with pounding, rhythmic
harpsichord that is combined surprisingly to the love theme that bleeds with
agony among the screeching strings. Aquarium
also inspired one suspense cue called Bad
news but this time the falling melody gives creepy vibes in a mysterious
setting. Thankfully it resolves into the intro and short reprise of the love
theme. The second disc also introduces Insect
noises or Ghost voices that are
made by swirling flutes (and on the latter track by actual choral voices and
jazzy percussion fills) and often added to the main theme creating sense of
lurking danger and uneasiness. By far the greatest depiction of horror is the 7.5-minute
The fire with which Morricone wanted
to underscore the devastation of crops caused by the locusts and fire. It
begins with string writing straight out of a horror movie that then turns to
sinister woodwinds from The good, the bad
and the ugly’s desert sequence. However the rhythmic accompaniment intensifies
even more as the track progresses keeping the listener on his toes finally
exploding into a death march with judgmental brass instruments of doom and real
sound effects of burning fire. Though it might be hard to listen to at times,
it is a crucial part of the dramatic arch of the music.
Listening
to this score has to be of the most immensely moving musical experiences of my life.
No score has expressed connections between the beauty and brutality of both the
wilderness and the human nature with such ease. The 2 CDs are a bit long to
finish with one sitting but the different presentations give options to the
listener needing some relaxation and peace presented through music.
Rating: *****
Tracklist:
1978
soundtrack album
1. Aquarium
[Le Carnaval des animaux] (Camille Saint-Saëns) (02:05) *****
2. We used
to do things (Linda Manz) (00:49) *
3. Enderlin
(Leo Kottke) (03:14) ***
4. Harvest
(02:59) *****
5. Threshing
(02:05) *****
6. Happiness
(02:13) *****
7. The honeymoon
(01:26) ****
8. Swamp dance
(Doug Kershaw) (03:32) ***
9. The return
(02:31) *****
10. The chase
(02:00) *****
11. The fire
(07:48) *****
12. Ashes
& dust (02:17) *****
13. Days of
heaven (03:26) *****
Ennio
Morricone cues used in picture:
14. Main theme
(7M1 tk 8) (01:02) *****
15. The farmer
and the girl (Theme 18—piano version) (01:53) *****
16. In the field
(Theme 5 long version, cf. Harvest) (02:59) *****
17. Bad news
(3M1 tk 3) (02:35) *****
18. Non-stop
work (2M1 2nd part) (00:36) ****
19. Main theme
(2M1 1st part) (01:18) *****
20. Bad news
(4M3) (00:36) *****
21. After wedding
(5M2 2nd part) (00:56) ****
22. Empty
house (5M3, cf. The honeymoon) (01:24) ****
23. On the
road (1M2 for 5M4) (01:41) *****
24. They should
leave (6M1, cf. Ashes & dust) (02:16) *****
25. On the
road (8M1 long version, cf. Happiness) (02:13) *****
26. Bill returns
(8M2, cf. The return) (02:30) *****
27. The locusts
and fire (9M1, cf. The fire) (07:29) *****
28. The
farmer and the girl (11M3 2nd version) (02:26) *****
29. His death
(5M2 1st part) (01:27) *****
30. The
farmer and the girl (10M3, cf. Days of heaven) (02:46) *****
Extended
score program:
1. 1M1
(Main title) (02:00) *****
2. 1M2
(Train ride) (01:44) *****
3. 1M3
(Main theme) (01:47) *****
4. Theme 18
(Love theme, long version) (01:22) *****
5. 2M1 1st
part (Main theme, alternate take) (01:20) *****
6. 2M2
(Main theme) (00:53) ****
7. 2M3
(Threshing, alternate mix) (02:05) *****
8. 3M1 (Bad
news, longer version) (02:42) *****
9. 3M2
(Work theme) (01:46) *****
10. 3M3
(Love theme) (01:00) *****
11. 4M1
(Intro to love theme, 2 versions) (00:39) *****
12. 5M1
(Love theme) (01:17) *****
13. 5M2
(Insect noises with main theme) (01:45) *****
14. 5M3
(The honeymoon, with piano) (01:26) ****
15. 6M1
(Intro to Love theme/Ashes to dust) (02:42) *****
16.
6M2/7M2/7M3 (Suspense theme/Main theme, 2 versions/Suspense theme) (02:27) *****
17. 8M1
long version (Happiness) (02:16) *****
18. 8M2
(The return, piano version) (02:33) *****
19. Ghost voices
(02:33) *****
20. 9M1
(The fire) (07:31) *****
21. 10M1
(Pursuit theme) (01:26) *****
22. 10M2
(The killing) (01:06) ****
23. 10M3
(Days of heaven) (02:47) *****
24. 11M1
version 1 (The chase) (02:01) *****
25. 11M1
version 2 (Love theme) (02:06) *****
26. 11M2
(Main theme) (01:03) *****
27. 11M3
version 2 (Main theme) (02:36) *****
28. 11M3
version 1 (Love theme) (02:29) *****
Bonus
tracks:
29. 4M2
(Intro to love theme) (00:22) ****
30. 5M2 1st
track (Insect noises with main theme, alternate) (01:51) *****
31. 5M2 2nd
track (Main theme, 1st mix) (01:23) *****
32. 5M2 2nd
track (Main theme, 2nd mix) (01:22) *****
33. Theme
18 (Love theme, short version) (00:49) *****
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